


Anniversary Road Trip

by curlsandcrown



Series: Universes in which Bughead gets engaged [1]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Marriage Proposal, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-16
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2019-02-03 03:45:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12740373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curlsandcrown/pseuds/curlsandcrown
Summary: Jughead surprises Betty with a road trip for their anniversary.





	Anniversary Road Trip

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt "When's the last time we went on a date?"

For their 10th anniversary (give or take a couple of short “breaks”), Betty and Jughead go on a road trip. It’s an idea that takes Betty by surprise. Sure, Jughead likes to take her for rides on his motorcycle from time to time, but usually, when they go on a trip, they travel by plane and one time they took a cruise. But, this - Betty could get used to being on the road with her favorite guy. 

It’s romantic cuddling up to him under the stars at the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado and exciting when they stop at a hotel along the way in Las Vegas. She also finds that the table games at the casino are quite fun when you have a few drinks in your system. And it’s the most fun she’s had in years, since high school and college and now being a full-time journalist in New York. It’s amazing all of the things he has done for her over the years, but this is quickly becoming her favorite getaway. 

“Where exactly is our destination, Jug?” She asks multiple times. He answers with a smug little smirk that, any other time, she’d kiss off his face. But right now, she wants to know what’s going on! Jughead has it all planned out, down to each diner and motel. It’s almost like they’re on a time limit.

It’s hard for Betty to not try to figure out this little mystery during their trip, and Jughead notices her questions getting more and more insistent as their trip continues.

Sighing, he glances over at her as he drives down the highway. “When’s the last time we went on a date?”

She furrows her brow in confusion.

“We go on dates all the time. Didn’t we just go on one last night in Vegas?”

“Yeah, but I mean back home.” He brings a hand up to nervously scratch the back of his neck. “You’re always so busy. We barely ever go out to eat anymore. We just order food, which I love because I’d rather stay home, but I feel like you’re missing out.” He practically mumbles this last part and it would break her heart if she wasn’t so shocked by his words.

“Missing out? Jug, no.” Betty sighs and reaches over for his hand not resting on the wheel. He lets her take it and squeezes it in response. “After work, I’d rather come home to you than ever go out and have to deal with other people. It’s okay if we stay home all the time. I don’t mind.”

She’s being completely honest with him, but, sure, there are times when she’d like to go for drinks with Veronica now that her best friend is back in New York. Still, she has never felt like she was missing out on anything because of Jughead.

“You really don’t mind?”

“No… But,” she looks at him with one raised eyebrow. “If it gets me trips like this more often, I can pretend that it bothers me.”

They both laugh and she lifts their joined hands up, kissing the back of his.

“Now, are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

“Just a few more hours.”

-

3 hours later, they’re getting out at a bay view hotel where they have a beautiful suite waiting for them.

“Wow,” she mutters as she looks around in wonder. “This is beautiful. Juggie, you didn’t have to do this.”

“I wanted to,” he says sending her a soft smile and grabbing a couple of their bags.

They get checked in and Jughead brings their bags up while Betty looks around the room, staring at the gorgeous view from their room. She’s out on their balcony enjoying the warm breeze as she looks down at the bay view. It’s way too much. Oh, something is definitely up.

The door slides open and she hears it shut behind her before she turns to look at her boyfriend with a wide smile.

“Did we get the right room?” She asks in amazement.

Jughead comes up and wraps his arms around her and nods. “This is the one,” he says staring down at her and his gaze is so intense that it causes her to blush. They’ve been together for 10 years, friends for much longer, and she doesn’t blush like this anymore. It causes her to wrap her arms around his neck and lean up to kiss him slowly. They get lost in the kiss for a few moments before Jughead reluctantly pulls back and looks at her.

“I have one more surprise. We need to get ready.” With that, he goes back into the room and she can’t help but shake her head in amusement. What a tease.

-

After a glorious shower, Betty gets enough information out of Jughead to know to dress casually, and finishes before he’s even out of the shower. When he comes out of their bathroom, she’s lounging on the couch watching the local news.  
“Did you know that there’s a Sleuth Con here this week?” She asks, her eyes sparkling with excitement. Jughead just shakes his head slowly and walks back into the bedroom.

She doesn’t think anything of it until they’re heading out the door, downstairs, and walking along with a relatively large group of people toward the convention room at the hotel. She stops dead in her tracks and looks at him, pulling on his arm and causing him to stop quickly.

“What?” He asks.

“You knew about this,” she says slowly, not so much accusing him as just surprised by the absolute sweetness of this trip.

Jughead looks at her with a shrug and pulls her toward him.

“You figured it out like I knew you would.” He sighs and she frowns slightly before pecking his lips.

“I didn’t know that’s why we were here until this very moment.”

He seems almost disappointed, but he plays it off well by taking her hand and pulling her into the convention without another word. And she has a blast. Before she even knows what she’s doing, she’s already taking notes on her phone and pictures of almost everything and everyone she sees. There are kids and adults alike dressed up as Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and even some characters she doesn’t know. When she gets back to New York, assignments be damned, she’s going to write the best piece about her favorite idols from childhood and the girls (and boys) who still idolize them.

Jughead seems a bit out of his element while they’re there, but it doesn’t stop him from getting into a discussion on crime writing with a couple of authors there signing books.

Once they get back to their room, Betty is on cloud nine and talking about all of the things she can’t wait to write about when they get home.

“I realize that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea,” she’s saying as Jughead opens their room door. “But -” Betty stops in the middle of her sentence as she sees how different their room looks. When they left that morning, the room was a typical hotel room. Now, though, there are a few strings of lights set up and rose leading from the door out onto the balcony.

Jughead leads her out there and she’s too surprised to say anything until they’re back outside and her perfect, beautiful, wonderful boyfriend is lowering himself to one knee.

“I knew you would figure out where we were going,” he starts and she rolls her eyes playfully before he’s reaching for her left hand. “But this is my second surprise that I hoped you wouldn’t figure out.”

“A McGuffin.”

Jughead laughs and nods, reaching into his pocket for a black velvet box.

“Well, I needed something to distract you from the big surprise.” There’s no annoyance in his voice as he says this, only adoration, and she knows right then that he was never upset that she figured out the mystery of their trip. “I have loved you since I was 16 and I know I’ll love you forever. You’re the most beautiful and brilliant woman in the world and I’m beyond lucky that you love me back.”

Betty is staring down at him with a look that can only be described as completely smitten. And, even though she knows where this is going, it takes her breath away when he opens the box and asks, “Betty Cooper, will you marry me?”

“Yes, Jug,” she says almost immediately and he slides the understated but gorgeous ring onto her left ring finger. Her eyes glance to the ring for a moment before she’s leaning down, cupping his cheeks, and kissing her fiance with everything she has. “That was the best mystery I’ve never solved.”

Jughead laughs and they both stand up straight, Betty still holding onto him before pressing her lips to his once more.

“Now, how about we order some room service and spend the rest of this night in bed?”

His answering grin tells her that he has no problem with that idea.

No, they may not get a ton of time to go out on dates anymore, but Betty wouldn’t change that for anything in the world. And now they’ll have each other for the rest of their lives, officially.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! This is part of a series we’re going to call Universes in which Bughead Get Engaged. More to come soon. Written by R. 
> 
> J + R


End file.
